That Championship Season

I won't carry on forever but I should say that this film is something of a well-kept secret it seems. One thing about "little gems" like this one is that if you hype them too much they become something else. If you see this movie with expectations too high then you might be disappointed, if on the other hand you watch it expecting to see one of the best low key character dramas you've probably seen in a while then you'll feel rewarded. Ultimately this is a film driven by SIX great performances (that's one for every member of the ensemble and another by the director/writer Jason Miller). What is there to say, they were all flawless and not once did the writing sink into cliché or formula. For once it was just great to watch a movie where, personally, every time I thought I knew what would happen, my expectations were defied. I'm not talking about any, now all too popular; so-called clever twists but just subtle turns in unexpected directions. In other words this is truthful cinema at its best, unexpected in the way life often really is.

To say that 'That Championship Season' is simply an allegory for faith in God is far too reductionist when discussing a film that has this much to say. Of course the film could be read this way but I feel religious or political undertones are the in-essentials of this story. What is essential is the recognition of a little of ourselves in these characters that have been drawn so well, bitterness, regret, self-pity, greed, lust, bigotry but also love, sacrifice, forgiveness are all here in all characters and in more or less equal measure and depending on your point of view they have nothing to do with religion. In short no one in this movie seems constructed, they simply live and breath the way we all try to, the lesson if any is simply to admit to some or all of those qualities in ourselves and to try and live a little better.

If ever a play made a wonderful movie, than this is it. The characters were portrayed beautifully by the fine actors in the cast (excluding Robert Mitchum who I think seemed ill-prepared or something....I'm not quite sure why he wasn't right). I loved this movie for it's intense angles on life and it's often colorful, but at times very dark, humor. I thought Jason Miller did a fine job directing. The interaction between the "boys" (as the coach calls them) was at times pathetic and at other times very tender and dear. I come from a family of seven brothers and it kind of reminded me of how love can ebb and flow with so many undercurrents of anguish and hostility. I thought it was also interesting that it was filmed in Scranton (the director's home town). It had that real small town tone to it which was perfect for this movie. Too bad it never really received much attention. I think I read somewhere that when it opened, it was in competition with several other highly successful films. Great entertainment and quite thought provoking.

To me the outstanding feature of this movie is the acting of Robert Mitchum, who superbly fits the role of coach to a group of men who gather to reminisce and during the course of their encounter, almost tear each other apart--verbally, physically and emotionally. The others are outstanding as well and are all great actors. However, Mitchum shows the range he has as an actor that many of his earlier roles didn't allow him.

A note of division is introduced into the proceedings that lays raw their emotions. It leads to an escalation of bitterness and recriminations. During it all, they find out about themselves and what they have become because of the brutal honesty of one another. None of them are plaster saints, far from it, they are classic alpha males, no worse or better than most of us. In the end, they probably realize that they are better for the brutal honesty that they can share with one another.

I'm writing this hopefully to have these comments take the place of the inane, untrue comments by another viewer whose comments' title is "a failure". This film is full of performances that are a primer for anyone wishing to be an actor; and I watched it expecting it to be play-ish and dry: it was not, it was expertly directed (rare for a playwright to do that so well; Mamet can't even do it), expertly paced, expertly shot and edited. This film richly reflects the excellent play and is a championship effort by all. (I am a produced playwright and screenwriter; most likely the viewer/commentator who deemed this film "a failure" is a failure himself.)

When the names of producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus are mentioned, it seems that the first thought that comes to mind are the schlocky B-grade action movies that they made. While this is understandable (they *did* make a lot of those movies), what has faded from people's minds is that they produced a number of arty, serious-minded dramas as well. That includes "That Championship Season", which is pretty unknown today despite getting some respectable reviews at the time. It's a movie that deserves to be rediscovered. No, it's no classic, but it has a lot going for it, the most obvious thing being its cast. The cast is first-rate, with all five players giving top-notch performances. The characters they play are interesting as well - they are all flawed (including, but not limited to spouting racial slurs), but interesting in their flaws and how they deal with them when exposed. I was interested in how these characters would end up at the film's end. It isn't a perfect movie - it's obvious which parts of the movie were not in the original play, for one thing, and most of the movie is stuck in the ground floor of a house - but it is *good*, and will make you wonder why Golan and Globus' tries for respectability were rejected by audiences.